music and art and chaos.

Melbourne is known for its festivals and culture, and we've been fortunate to experience a lot of what the city has to offer. This past weekend, Ben and I had the opportunity to attend some awesome (and free!) events: an outdoor symphony concert, and an all-night arts festival!

The Sidney Myer Free Concerts are a beloved summer tradition here, featuring the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performing at the outdoor Sidney Myer Music Bowl. These two-hour events are open to the general public, and people are encouraged to bring blankets and picnic dinners while enjoying well thought-out classical programs. Last night was the third and final concert of the series, which was of particular interest to me because it featured a piano concerto. Classical piano was once my specialty a loooong time ago, and even though my personal experiences of performing concertos with a full orchestra were somewhat terrifying, I really love piano concertos - when someone else is playing them.

Ben and I arrived at the bowl two hours early, just in time for the preconcert entertainment featuring the Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra, performing works by various Russian composers. By the time the main concert started at 7pm, the bowl had reached full capacity at 10,000 people.

one GIANT music picnic.

The evening's program consisted of Piano Concerto No. 3 by Rachmaninov (made popular by the 90's film "Shine") featuring pianist Caroline Almonte, and Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique" by Tchaikovsky. Both pieces were fantastic, and it was a beautiful experience to enjoy the orchestra as the sun slowly set over the city. Afterwards, we ran into our friend Anne and her boyfriend, who had also attended the concert, and got to catch up with them for a bit.

The next adventure on our list was White Night, which is a relatively new event (last year was its original debut, enjoyed by over 300,000 people). Inspired by Paris' Nuit Blanche, Melbourne's White Night is an intense all-night arts festival. From 7pm to 7am, the core of the CBD was transformed into a "cultural playground," featuring art exhibitions, colourful light displays, performance, street food and other social activities. By the time we made our way to the main cross streets at 10:30pm, it was absolute chaos. Moving from one end of the road to the other was an accomplishment, and even though it's an experience in itself to be surrounded by a sea of humans, we found it hard to do anything but avoid getting trampled.

I convinced Ben that we'd be better off heading home and taking a little nap, then venturing out again in the wee hours in the morning, when the crowd would hopefully have thinned out. So we did, setting our alarm for 3:30am and revisiting the city at 4am. We were super tired, and of course there were a bunch of belligerent intoxicated people out and about - but there was a strong presence of law enforcement at the festival, so I never felt unsafe during our time there.

As I had hoped, the art displays were much easier to enjoy without the massive crowd, although the festival was still going strong. We saw various music and theatric performances, including a rousing jazz band, and a puppeteer who did a fantastic job making a tiny skeleton marionette lip-sync to Ray Charles. The Alexandra Gardens showcased a series of films shown on large projectors, surrounded by modern art sculptures and trees illuminated by colourful lights. All the major buildings were lit up with intricate and changing designs, and the iconic "White Night" sign on the Princes Bridge was an ongoing art project in itself, with people being encouraged to decorate the glowing letters with artwork and messages. Flinders Square was packed with people gathered in front of the main stage for an all-night dance party. A bunch of restaurants and even some museums were open all night long, and food trucks lined the side streets for people craving a snack on the go. There was even an excited crowd observing a large and rousing game of duck-duck-goose in the middle of the street.

4am jazz concert, anyone? 

all-night dance party stage, going strong at 5am

potatoes on a stick are apparently our thing. also, Ben is thrilled to be wandering the city streets at 4am.

Flinder's Street Station

this is actually a picture of the sign in reverse, flipped in post-production.

Apparently 550,000 people attended White Night this year - around 100,000 over the general estimate. There were various complaints on social media about the lack of crowd control and overall organisation, so there's definitely room to improve for next year's festival. But we had a great time despite the chaos, and I've already marked it on my calendar for 2015. I highly recommend attending White Night in the early hours of the morning, especially if you're not a big fan of swimming through crowds.

Anyway, this might be Ben's last weekend in Melbourne for a little while, as he will be working out of town for the next few months. We're not too excited about this, but it is what it is. Hopefully he'll be able to come home every few weeks - and depending on the status of my employment, I might be able to visit him and see a bit more of Victoria. After all, we're always up for more adventure!

CK

trials... and errors.

First of all, I want to thank those of you who have reached out to me after my "some random thoughts re: the job search thing" blog entry. I have received countless advice, reassurance, understanding and personal stories of similar situations and frustrations. I know that I am very much not alone. So thank you, friends and family, for joining in the conversation with me.

My Australian job search continues with this next post, featuring yours truly in a couple of Mortifying Situations, not worth dwelling over but definitely worth sharing for the sake of your amusement. Enjoy!

THE CAPPUCCINO STORY 

I know how to make coffee. I was trained on a classic espresso machine at a cafe in Michigan eight years ago, and my first job in Seattle was serving espresso beverages at the top of the Space Needle, which was very fast-paced and ridiculously entertaining. I may not know how to do fancy latte art, but I am fully capable of caffeinating customers from all around the globe in a speedy and precise fashion. 

With my previous experience as a barista, I decided to apply to some cafes in the city. One of the cafes listed on my favourite job site is two blocks from my house, so after applying online, I put on my best job-hunting outfit, printed out a résumé and decided to pay them a visit in person. I may be fairly rejectable on paper, but who can say no to this face?

The cafe was located inside a large corporate building. Everyone was wearing fancy dress suits and carrying sleek briefcases. I got in line, ordered my usual small skinny latte, then nonchalantly pulled out my résumé and asked if they were hiring. The woman behind the counter seemed hesitant, but upon skimming my recent career achievements, smiled and asked me to come behind the drink station and make a cappuccino. 

Oh. I had not seen that one coming. 

The barista on duty was friendly, despite being super busy. She quickly pointed out the different parts of the espresso machine, then asked me to make her a cappuccino.

The cappuccino can be a tricky drink to make quickly, as it requires a generous amount of foam, so it takes slightly more manual labour than other espresso beverages. Here is what it typically looks like:

It had been a while since I had pressed any buttons on an espresso machine, but I managed to succeed in making a foamy, frothy cappuccino that even the Starbucks siren might have appreciated. 

The barista picked up the cup, inspecting my craftsmanship. "This is not a cappuccino. It needs less foam and more milk and a layer of chocolate powder."

She poured it out, and quickly made this:

Fun fact: Australian cappuccinos are very different from American cappucinos. 

I tried to explain the whole "this is how we do it in America?" thing, but I'm pretty sure she thought it was absolute rubbish.

"We'll give you a call!" she said cheerfully. Which is pretty much the job-search equivalent of "let's just be friends!" after a first date. I thanked everyone at the cafe for their time, then walked the two blocks home in defeat.

THE VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT STORY 

Thanks to some new friends via family connections, I was able to interview for a popular Vietnamese restaurant located in the CBD, by doing a four-hour work trial. I've worked at restaurants before, so once again, experience was on my side. So I thought.

The restaurant manager was very friendly, and introduced me to his cheerful staff. One woman had me shadow her, teaching me the process of making specialty Vietnamese rolls - vegetables, protein and noodles tucked neatly into rice paper and served with various sauces.

"First, you dampen the rice paper, then... can you please pass me the coriander?"

"What's coriander?"

She pointed a bowl of cilantro.

"Oh, cilantro!"

"No, that is coriander."

Apparently produce has completely different names in Australia.

For good measure, I held up a bowl of carrot slices. "So, what do you call these?"

"Those are called 'carrots'..."

I was already making a fantastic impression on my new friends.

After attempting to make sixteen sell-able rolls in five minutes, I was then shuffled to the to-go window of the restaurant, where the manager quickly explained the computer system, and partnered me with another friendly woman. The window was opened, revealing maybe about twenty customers in line. Hungry Australian busy business people. Oh dear.

"I'll have atofurollwithsoysauce, asesamesalmonbeefroll, and... aprawnandeggrollwithhoisinsauce, please."

"Coming right up!" my coworker chirped, gathering whatever food items the customer had ordered into a takeout box in swift and graceful motions. "Candice, can you ring it in please?"

I had not taken into account the fact that I might need to become familiar with a variety of things on the menu... spoken in thick Australian accents. My coworker probably repeated everything to me three times before I could find the corresponding buttons on the finicky computer screen, which was not properly responding to the touch of my fingers due to my fresh guitar callouses.

"That'll be $6.70," I told the customer after what seemed like ten minutes, and she kindly handed me a twenty. I punched in the numbers, and the cash drawer violently opened up to reveal... Australian money. Colourful, and very unfamiliar, bills and coins.

Mind you, we've been in Australia for over two months. I've taken cash out of the bank, I've bought things with it, and I can do the math. But at a very slow rate. Not a fast-food-lunch-rush rate, and definitely not at the rate of which I could process American currency at my previous cashiering job. 

I counted out the foreign-to-me coins and bills at the speed of an accomplished kindergarten graduate (why are Australian bills so slippery? why do the $1 coins look so much like the $2 coins? why are there $2 coins??), while my coworker was already asking the third person in line for their order. Which once again, I could not decipher. When I had finally, miraculously caught up on the transactions, my coworker gently prodded me to greet the next person in line.

"Don't be shy! Just say, 'how ya goin'?"

What.

"Ummmm... how you going?" I mumbled in an accent that was not even remotely Australian. Or American. I do not know what it was.

"I'll have threeprawnandeggrollswithasideofhoisinsauce please!"

Ugh.

The hour spent at that to-go window was probably the worst hour of my Australian experience yet. At one point, I seriously considered running away from the restaurant, but in a stealth-like fashion so everyone would just chalk it up to teleportation or spontaneous time-travel. But then I thought better of it, and stayed until the very end, which did not come soon enough.

The manager thanked me for my time, and gently informed me that there were other potential hires that had caught on much faster than me during their work trials. He understood my culture shock regarding currency and language, and offered me a chance to do another trial, if I thought that I could greatly improve. But I kindly declined, thanked him, complimented him on his staff (who were all amazingly friendly and level-headed with me throughout the entire shift, despite my embarassing incompetence), and I dragged my wounded ego home.

THE SILVER LINING

On the bright side, I can now make rice paper rolls for myself and Ben and future house guests. I can order a cappuccino and not be totally confused when I receive an almost-mocha. I can tell $1 and $2 coins apart. And I now know that I would rather not work in the food service industry here, at least for a while. 

not the most photogenic rice rolls, but they're certainly edible!

And so, the great search for an Australian job continues. I've started looking around at music-related careers (which is what I actually got my degree in, hence the experience in food service, haha) and came across this fun composition contest. Coincidentally, the prize is a job offer. If you want to hear something I spent all last week working on, please have a listen! I love Hans Zimmer and it's a longtime dream of mine to write music for films, television, video games and commercials.

Perhaps that's the true silver lining of these failed work experiences: remembering and realising that there is actually something on this planet that I want to do.

CK

the year of the horse and melbourne's chinatown.

This past weekend was the Lunar New Year, celebrating the Year of the Wooden Horse. I may be of Chinese descent, but I don't have a whole lot of experience with super-traditional New Year festivities. Growing up, my family usually celebrated by wearing red (the culture's colour of celebration), eating at the most authentic Chinese restaurant we could find, and my brother and I graciously receiving red envelopes of gift money (or ang pao as we call it). Only in the past few years have I actually witnessed large community Lunar New Year celebrations, mostly due to my close proximity to various Chinatowns. Lucky for us, Melbourne's Chinatown is the longest continuous Chinese settlement in the Western World, and features some pretty significant celebrations.

Melbourne's Chinatown

We didn't do a whole lot on the actual first day of the Lunar New Year, as Ben was at work until late in the evening. I made us a nice dinner of noodles and oranges - foods that are considered "lucky" in the Chinese tradition - and we watched a Tobey Maguire movie, which is always a festive thing to do. On Saturday we talked with my family via FaceTime, then explored some of the celebrations going on right in our Docklands neighbourhood. There wasn't a whole lot to see during the day, just a small carnival with rides and a really creepy animatronic tree. There was, however, a fantastic 100-metre long dragon sculpture made of steel and silk, built a few blocks from our apartment as a New Year decoration. (In unrelated news, crime rates in Docklands have seen a sharp decline within the past week.)

animatronic fun.

docklands dragon.

On Sunday we headed to Chinatown in the heart of the CBD, where the real celebrations were happening. It was crowded, busy, noisy and full of life. There were booths set up everywhere, selling everything from children's crafts to lucky plants, massages and places for people to play Chinese board games. There was a beautiful outdoor temple/shrine area set up, where people were saying prayers, honouring ancestors and making wishes for the new year. Everywhere we turned, we saw traditional Lion dances - two people in a large Lion costume, dancing elaborately to thunderous drum beats, practicing the traditional custom of "cai qing," where the lion "eats" green vegetables that are hung in front of stores and restaurants; showers of firecrackers are set off, scaring away evil spirits and small children alike, and the lion and the drum troupe continue onto the next set of hanging vegetables. 

Seahawks gear: not your typical Lunar New Year costumes!

Probably the coolest thing we did was tour the Chinese Museum, which was open for free in honour of the holiday. The museum is located in a building that once housed props and costumes for the theatre venue around the corner, giving it a mysterious and historical vibe. The ground floor was full of costume and dragon displays, including the Millennium Dragon: the world's largest processional Chinese dragon - which snaked all the way to the basement, where there was an elaborate and hands-on display of the 19th century goldfield experience. 

it takes 8 people to carry just the head of the Millennium Dragon.

The first level of the museum featured ancient and modern art, such as a detailed wooden "screen" with scenes from a lantern festival, and a mixed media display of rice in large red bowls. 

The second level was the "Bridge of Memories," featuring stories of Chinese people from various Asian countries who have made Australia their home - usually to pursue higher education, escape ethnic persecution, or just because they felt more at home in Australia. Many of the stories were sad but hopeful, and touched me on a personal level, as my grandparents and parents come from similar immigration and cultural backgrounds.

part of my family history - and the reason my maiden name is Indonesian, not Chinese.

The top level of the museum was a display of various artefacts, chronicling the journey of the Chinese people in the country. There were items from football leagues and jazz bands, wedding accessories and articles of significance from places of worship. It was also interesting to read about historical events such as the Factories and Shops act of 1896 (where businesses were required to identify their labour as either "European" or "Chinese" in efforts to stop Chinese businesses from being too successful), and the White Australia Policy, which heavily favoured immigrants of European descent.

traditional wedding dress (!!), tea and...a seismograph?

The museum was a fascinating glimpse into the history of Chinese Australians, and a wonderful way to end our day in Chinatown. It's nice to be living in a country that is currently very accepting of diversity,  and also acknowledges past mistakes in an effort to improve. Ben and I are only intending to stay here for a few years, but if our plans change, it's good to know that we would potentially be giving our family roots in a land of opportunity, growth, and cultural celebration.

CK

superbowl monday.

a sight to behold.

The Seahawks are Super Bowl Champions.

Of course it's the year we move away from Seattle.

I have to give it up to Ben - he had originally gotten the day off work to watch the big game (due to the time difference, the Super Bowl aired live in Melbourne on Monday morning) but decided to save his vacation day for a possible near-future emergency trip for my family. He missed out on a legendary event, but received text updates from friends and family from the States, as well as myself. However, I was the wrong Kortlever to be at home watching the game, as you can see by my text updates:

And also this lovely gem from facebook:

rude.

I watched the game in the comfort of our apartment, texting Ben and my sister-in-law, keeping an eye on my facebook/twitter/instagram friends from back home, enjoying the excited status updates and pictures from various parties and gatherings. It's fun keeping in touch with everyone in general, but it was even more fun knowing we were all watching the same sporting event, and (mostly) all rooting for the same team. The only bummer for me was that our local channel One didn't air any of the American commercials (the only reason I have watched the Super Bowl in the past..!), just the same old daily Australian ones. But thanks to The Internets, I've been able to catch up quickly on my superhero movie trailers.

cheering for the Hawks with my neighbour Totoro.

It's such a bummer to be away from the Emerald City this week! Especially for Ben, who was born and raised in Washington and is a big fan of Seattle's sports teams. Hawks fans are intense, and judging from the pictures and videos we saw of the post-game celebrations out on the streets of our old stomping grounds ("pandemonium" is a gentle way of describing it), we're missing out on a ton of crazy energy. My old workplace, the Space Needle, must be going absolutely insane, and it would have been fun to watch the game with friends and family... or other people at the very least.

Speaking of which, there was apparently a giant Super Bowl watching party at Federation Square, which I didn't know about until hours after it had ended, when I walked past it on my way to run club. There was a grand stand set up, concession and souvenir booths, and even a nice sculpture of the Empire State Building flanked by American flags. It would have been fun to celebrate with random Melbournians, but it's probably a good thing I stayed inside, as I'm known to get quite rowdy among football fans...

where I really should have watched the game

empire state of mind.

Ben and I met up after work/run club to celebrate!

Anyway, congrats Seahawks! 

Love, 
the 12s in Melbourne

australia day.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to celebrate our first Australia Day.  While some people see it as having negative connotations, similar to Columbus Day and Thanksgiving Day in the US (holidays that some believe celebrate the invasion and overhaul of indigenous cultures), others see it as a national holiday focused on celebrating friends, family, and country.  As I imagined, it felt similar to the 4th of July because it occurs in the summer, is associated with parades and carnivals, and the day ends with a big fireworks display.  It is also an Aussie tradition to celebrate with a barbie & a beer, much like the American way of celebrating the 4th.  

Candice and I dressed in our Australian best (I in my Netherlands soccer shirt and she in her Mackinac Island t-shirt), and made our way to Swanston St to watch the parade.  For being the “main event” in the city that day, it was relatively easy for us to get a front row spot against the fence to watch the passing spectacle.  The first thing I observed is that the parade was filled with an overwhelming amount of cultural groups honoring Australia Day with signs of thanks to Australia for allowing them to make a new home here.  It was actually very moving for me, seeing all these cultures with their different traditions come together to honor what has become their home.  We saw groups from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, India, Denmark, Scotland, Tibet, Lebanon, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Solomon Islands, Russia, Vietnam, Thailand, Iran, and many others.

In addition to the different cultural groups, the parade included a lot of fun & interesting clubs and organizations, similar to what you might find represented in the Freemont Solstice parade in Seattle, WA.  A few of my personal favorites included the Melbourne costume club (including the best characters from fantasy literature), a Star Wars club, and the totally awesome Vintage Cycle Club.  After the parade, we spent the afternoon walking around a carnival/outdoor market in our neighborhood and had our first fried potato on a stick (or “latkes on a stick!” as Candice referred to them).  We ran into some very festive costumes, including a brass-playing duo wearing Australian Flag suits, and two people posing for photos in giant Australian flag sumo suits.

To wrap up the day, we headed down to the waterfront near our apartment to watch the fireworks.  We found our favorite spot on the dock (the same spot we had watched the New Years fireworks), and enjoyed what was a really impressive show.  After quite a few years watching fireworks I feel like I’ve seen most of the standard types usually on display, but there were a few fireworks I had never seen before.  My favorite was a group of fireworks that illuminated the sky in red and green clumps to form the upper branches of a great tree.  The show also had smiley faces, hearts, and plenty of red, white and blue.  I was really hoping for a giant dragon (a la the Fellowship of the Ring), but I guess I’ll have to wait for next year.

When I returned to work on Tuesday I told my coworkers that we celebrated Australia Day by attending the parade in town and watching the fireworks, and was excited to hear their thoughts on the events as well.  I assumed in my naivety that this was what most Australians do, so you can imagine my surprise when not a single one of my coworkers even knew there was a parade, and none of them had attended the fireworks.  I guess that explains why it was so easy to get a good spot at the parade…

happy year of the horse!

Now all of Melbourne is in the midst of celebrating the Lunar New Year.  We’ll be out enjoying the festivities over the next few days and will write a post about it soon.  In the meantime, we wish everyone a very prosperous and happy new year!

BK